Emirates Stadium bring in high-profile addition and hand attacker the club’s number nine shirt.
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Arsenal have completed the signing of Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez with the north London side agreeing to meet Barcelona’s £32m valuation.
CaughtOffside understands that the 25 year old Nou Camp star has been assigned the number nine shirt with German Lukas Podolski likely to complete a move back to the Bundesliga after two fairly average campaigns at the Emirates Stadium.
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Incoming Barcelona boss Luis Enrique has set about re-shuffling his squad and having sold former Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas to Chelsea the new manager has been keen to sell Sanchez to help fund a big money move for Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.
Sanchez had his most productive season to date last term, netting 19 goals in 27 La Liga starts, but is seemingly not part of Barcelona’s long term plans.
The former Udinese man will offer Arsene Wenger a versatile option up front with Sanchez able to fill wide and central striking roles and is arguably in the best form of his life after an impressive series of displays at the World Cup finals.
Wenger is keen to conduct his transfer business early this summer and as well as looking to beef up his options in the final third the French manager is keen to bring in a replacement for Bacary Sagna with Newcastle United’s Mathieu Debuchy set to join Arsenal in the coming days.
Arsenal are also pursuing a defensive addition with back-up option Thomas Vermaelen keen to complete a move to Man United having become surplus to requirements under Wenger, who prefers to use Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker as his first choice central defensive pairing.
The Gunners are also pursuing Southampton battler Morgan Schneiderlin as a potential long term replacement for veteran Mikel Arteta and given the mass exodus of talent leaving the south-coast side one imagines that Arsenal’s advances for the 24 year old French international may well prove fruitful.
New arrival Sanchez is said to have agreed personal terms on a four year deal worth around £140k a week making him the club’s second highest earner behind German playmaker Mesut Ozil.
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